This invention relates to a clutch for an actuator for an automobile and, more particularly, to a clutch mechanism for a motor-type actuator, which switches a door lock device between locked and unlocked states.
It is well known in the art to switch locked state and unlocked state of a door lock device with a motor-type actuator. The actuator is provided with a clutch mechanism, which transmits the rotation of a motor to a lock mechanism of the door lock device but does not cause rotation of the motor when the lock mechanism is switched manually with a door key.
While the clutch mechanism uses a centrifugal clutch, the centrifugal clutch does not provide a reliable effect unless it is rotated at a high speed. Therefore, a centrifugal clutch is mounted directly on the output shaft of the motor, and a speed reduction mechanism is provided between the centrifugal clutch and lock mechanism (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-260,978).
With this prior art mechanism, manually switching the lock mechanism causes rotation of the speed reduction mechanism, so that it requires rather a heavy manual operation.